Mysterious Culprit That Killed 7 Million Pigs Finally Revealed: It Was Tote Bags

Yes, reusable tote bags may be good for making us feel smug in the supermarket check-out. But the US Department of Agriculture just traced a deadly virus that has killed millions of pigs to the unlikely culprit. Not feeling so good about that tote bag now, are you?

Last year, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus killed 7 million pigs but, although they knew what it was, how it was spreading remained unclear. So the USDA launched an extensive investigation into just where the virus was managing to make its way to farms, looking at 17 different scenarios, including Bad lab protocols,Hidden in pet treats, and Maybe birds are doing it somehow?

It makes sense when you think about it. Reusable tote bags on farms aren’t quite the same as the ones you have on hand. For starters they’re bigger, capable of holding up to 1,360 kilos. They are also incredibly sturdy and long-lasting.

This means they go everywhere on farms and they hold everything—and cleaning between uses, if it happens at all, is usually pretty light. They are also true multitaskers, used not just on farms, but also for transporting stuff between different farms, manufacturing plants, and shipping ports between countries. And once a tote bag gets to one place, it tends to stay in that place and get used—until something needs to get sent away. And then it, and the tote bag that holds it, find a new farm to hit.